Christmas Handprint Tree on Canvas

It's crunch time.

Thanksgiving has came and passed and now it's time for all things Christmas. I have garland and wreaths, lights and ornaments but nothing makes the holiday special like a personalized creation made by none other than your children that gets to be displayed all month long. I compiled a few Pinterest project ideas and came up with my own. With five kids this was the perfect project!

I bought a decent sized canvas at my local craft store (Joann's)

I have a whole bunch of acrylic craft paint so I used that. If you don't have that on hand, you can always find it at your local craft store as well as Walmart.

I also have an assortment of paint brushes on hand. 

I started by painting the background with blue, silver, white and sparkling blue craft paint. I made it look like a night sky with snow on the ground. Fairly simple. 

If you aren't as artistically inclined as I am, don't sweat it. It's will still look great!

Next you need to paint a brown stump.

It worked out really well with my five kids.

My oldest did the first layer of the Christmas Tree with 5 hand prints. I just used a paint brush and painted his hand and guided him as to where to put his hands on the canvas. Make sure the fingers are pointed down.

The second layer of four hand prints belong to my step-daughter, same process. Three hand prints; my step-son, Two hand prints; my youngest step-daughter, and then one right on top, which belongs to my 13 month old. 

If you don't have 5 kids to work with you can still do this project, no problem. Just keep with the pattern of 5 hand prints on the bottom and work your way up to 1 hand print on top and don't forget to point the fingertips down.

I used a round sponge brush for the ornaments, but you can always have the kids use their finger prints.

I painted little gold squares on top of each ornament to make them look realistic. 

I painted a gold star on top, of course, and made it look shiny with a few simple lines coming off of the points. 

I also painted each of my kids' names on the layer of hand prints that belongs to them.

Lastly, with silver paint I put a few twinkle stars in the night sky and did my best to paint Merry Christmas with a little holly leaf and berries on the bottom. 

You don't have to follow my design to a T. It is merely for inspiration.

Get creative! Most importantly, have fun and enjoy the moment with your children.

You will have a Christmas decoration to treasure forever that comes with a great story!

Below I have compiled a general list of items you may need to complete this project.

large white canvas

assorted sizes of paint brushes

acrylic craft paint:

blue, white, silver, sparkling blue (paint with glitter works too), green, gold, yellow, orange, purple, red, teal, brown

&

little hands :)

Handprint Turkeys

When I have the opportunity I like to do a holiday craft with all of my kids. In the past we have made salt dough ornaments, valentine's, and bunnies with cotton balls to name a few. In the spirit of Thanksgiving we did hand print turkeys and wrote what we are thankful for on the back. They turned out so cute and we have a print of their hands to treasure forever. Here is a picture of our project and what you will need if you want to do this yourself!

What we used:

White card stock paper

Acrylic craft paints 

Paint brushes

Popsicle sticks or tongue depressors

White glue

Scissors

Pen, pencil or marker

&

Most importantly.... little hands! 

I use an ice try for my paint. It works great!

Using a separate paint brush for each color quickly paint the palm and thumb brown, then each individual finger green, red, orange and yellow.

Place hand print on card stock, slide fingers back and forth a little and let it dry.

Paint orange legs and a beak.

Paint a red gobbler

Paint brown feather lines on the red, green, yellow and orange finger prints.

Paint a white eyeball with a black spot.

Let the masterpiece dry!

Cut out your turkey and on the back write what you are thankful for. Glue on the stick. Whalah!

Here is a painting template below.